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(My experience was, since there were no glitches, it wasn't really that bad but the lining up took long.)

He concluded that the long lines experienced by commuters during rush hour means there is a real need for the government to purchase more train carriages.

Roque, who began his train ride past 9 am or after the morning rush hour, said he can only "imagine" the suffering of train passengers at those critical times. (READ: MRT woes: How often do they happen?)

"It's not rush hour anymore so I could imagine that when it's rush hour, the lines are even longer, maybe a minimum of 30 minutes waiting. This only means we lack train carriages," said Roque.

He explained that he avoided the rush hour on purpose so as not to add to the burden of passengers.

President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman arrived at the MRT3 North Avenue Station around 9 am.

The media, complete with heavy cameras and tripods, had to rush to the station from the ground floor entrance because Roque had entered from the other side.

Surrounded by reporters and their crew, Roque paid for his one-way ticket to the Taft Avenue Station, the last station on the MRT3 southbound line.

The rush-hour queue that reached the sidewalk of EDSA had, by that time, dissipated. Still, Roque noted that it took him 10 minutes to buy a ticket. He said he could just "imagine" how long people would wait during peak hours. (READ: Commuters share most horrible MRT experiences)

Two Department of Transportation (DOTr) personnel accompanied Roque. Adamant that he be given as minimal special treatment as possible, the spokesman got on the nearest carriage, instead of one that the personnel had picked out for him.

Train press conference

Once in the carriage, Roque answered questions from reporters, who also squeezed their way in along with their equipment.

"It's cold and I like it because I get to talk to many people," said Roque in Filipino.

Able to sit down in the middle of the train ride, he looked obviously refreshed by the strong gust of airconditioning.

Gutierrez, who travels to the Buendia Station from the Kamuning Station every weekday, said the train carriages are only cold when there are few passengers. During rush hour, the full-to-bursting carriages can get suffocatingly hot.

The passenger beside Roque, Joseph Walters, said his MRT3 experience is usually "okay." The only "hassle," he said, are the long lines.

But not all passengers were as calm as these two.

Later that morning at the LRT1, one passenger, standing far away from Roque but near the door of the train, muttered to media: "Bakit pa kailangan dito magpa-presscon?" (Why does the presscon have to happen here?)

Upon arriving at the Taft Station, Roque walked fairly quickly to the LRT1 EDSA Station.

Members of the media rushed to get past the turnstiles, merging with the line of regular commuters.

Roque and the media were made to pass through the priority lane at the LRT1 so as not to delay the regular lines.

Special treatment?

It was at this point when 3 LRT1 security personnel accompanied the group. As at the MRT3, Roque got on the closest available carriage. He was to get off at the Central Station.

At each stop of the train, the 3 security personnel got down to stop other commuters from getting inside the carriage where Roque was. The other would-be passengers were asked to head to other carriages.

Roque did not appear to know this was happening as he was further inside the train. He later on clarified to Rappler that he was not aware there were security personnel following him or stopping passengers from boarding that particular carriage.

Soon enough, Roque had reached the end of the ride, arriving at the Central Station around 10:30 am. From there, he would take a car to Malacañang where he was scheduled to hold the regular 11 am Palace briefing.

Was the experience worth the additional inconvenience to regular passengers?

"I will tell [President Duterte] that there needs to be focus on the problems of the MRT and that the LRT is working fine. The standards of maintenance should be the same to lessen the suffering of the passengers," said Roque. (READ: Malacañang promises 'better MRT' under Duterte) – Rappler.com

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Welcome to Rappler, a social news network where stories inspire community engagement and digitally fuelled actions for social change. Rappler comes from the root words "rap" (to discuss) + "ripple" (to make waves).